Dinosaurs roam the Perth Cultural Centre

A velociraptor, spinosaurus, australovenator and leaellynasaura will be on the prowl in Northbridge from Saturday as part of the WA Museum’s Dinosaur Discovery exhibition.

Using a special camera and the giant screen in the Perth Cultural Centre, visitors will be able to experience what it’s like to walk with, pat and play with life-sized, animated dinosaurs.

Culture and the Arts Minister John Day said a virtual world had been created in the cultural centre where visitors could stand and interact with some of the most incredible creatures ever to walk the Earth.

“The virtual world has been specially created to augment the experience of the extremely popular Dinosaur Discovery exhibition which has attracted more than 50,000 visitors in its first month,” Mr Day said.

“The dinosaurs will interact with people and each other through a form of artificial intelligence. The result is a unique experience where the dinosaurs will react to people’s individual movements.”

The virtual experience was developed by local technology design company Hungry Sky, together with Eye Candy Animation from Canberra.

The Minister said the initiative was a great example of how the screen in the Perth Cultural Centre provided resident institutions with the opportunity to take their exhibitions out of a building and into a public space.

“The screen enables our cultural institutions to engage with a larger audience and create exciting, new and free experiences for everyone,” he said.

“Through a range of events, festivals and initiatives such as this, the Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority (MRA) is providing new reasons for people to engage with the space and encourage all West Australians to rediscover the cultural heart of Perth.”

The dinosaur experience will screen daily from Saturday, May 24 until mid-August this year with session times from 8am until 6pm every hour on the hour.